Finally! I've played VF4!

After being inspired by the Singaporean VFers post and that VF4 is already in Singapore, the first thing I did after my exams were to rush down to the nearest VF4 machine... which really wasn't as I had to travel halfway across Singapore to the Central Business District. But then again, in Singapore, all you have to do is travel at max an hour from any point before you meet the sea... but I digress.

I went down to the Super Funland at Marina Square, and there I saw 2 Versus City machines [that is two pairs of two back-to-back machines], and each play cost a buck. Expensive, but I still went ahead.

I was quite surprised at the graphics of VF4. Somehow it seemed jaggier, background textures were somewhat poor... compared to VF3. But gameplay [except for the 8WR which was so slow] and character design wise I was quite impressed, and the lighting impacts were subtle. Now on to my giant rumble!

NOTE TO ALL: THE DESCRIPTIONS BELOW MAY BE SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT PLAYED VF4. ALSO, MOST OF THE THOUGHTS HERE ARE COMMENTS ON GRAPHICS AND NOT GAMEPLAY. THE LENGTH OF THIS POST IS PREPOSTEROUS - TYPICAL OF ME. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Firstly, I'd like to comment that the highest level I reached was Stage 12 - Sarah, so Akira and Dural are left out. My first few tries ended with that idiot Jeffry, then there after it was pretty exponential - from Vanessa as the next limit to Lau and then to Sarah. Although I like Pai and Aoi and Lau etc. much better than Sarah - my talent lies with her.

Lion Rafale and the Castle

Stage Design
The first thing I noticed was the snow, really. It is much more furious than VF3 Aoi's Brook, and when there was a close up on the snow I saw the detail of each snowflake... pretty impressive. I wan't extremely impressed with the wearing away of snow, but it was nice addition anyway. The texture on the castles was convincingly detailed, but the palace interior was extremely horrid... it came in dots to simulate glass! Heavens no!
Gameplay
I didn't use Lion, and being allocated to Stage 1, he isn't allowed to maximise his potential. If he were placed higher up, I'm sure he would have been more damaging. He didn't use any new moves on me.
Character Design and Mannerism
His irises are too light [a common complaint with some other characters like Jacky and Aoi]. But his hair is fluid [i.e. blowing in the wind] again, much like VF2. He still has his horrid VF3 voice. The VF2 one is still the best IMO. But he has much more class now.

Lei-Fei and the Temple

Stage Design
I remember that the flying flocks of birds were very impressive in the AOU showing, but I didn't see many sailing through the sky. The rafters of the roofs are terrible - in low res texture. I recall Pai's roof in VF2 - it was much better here. The mist wasn't really interesting. The buildings in the distance are horribly jaggy [but the characters aren't that jaggy though], and that kind of put me off, especially with all the hype. The broken tile effect was quite impressive as well.
Gameplay
I didn't use Lei-Fei as well. He didn't seem to interesting to fiddle with. He performed many hard hitting blows on me, but no throws. On destroying the walls [nice effect, the way it splinters] with him, he always rolls away to an area with a wall behind him. Of the 13 times I demolished the temple walls, there was only 1 immediate ringout [and it was the only one that I got in a walled stage], and even then my Sarah had to go down with him. Kind of like the way the screen shakes when they hit the ground. The boom....boom warranted two shakes. It made the drops seem more lethal than VF3. Lei-Fei was a pest with his stance. I can't remember the names, but for the one where he sticks his legs far apart and his hands form an S stance, I had a hard time throwing him because of his stupid leg. And for another stance where he stands on one foot and sticks his hands out, I fell for his auto punch reversals many times. I guess there's no monkeying around with the monk. /versus/images/icons/wink.gif
Character Design and Mannerism
His sleevs animate nicely. And his beginning taunt where he goes 'Anata no kufuu...' - I was impressed by his eyebrow movement and the texture of his forehead. However in his Player 2, his arms seem wrongly attached... and his armpits seem out of sorts, but maybe it's just me.

Pai Chan and the Aquarium

Stage Design
The zooming in on the stage was rather horrid sometimes. Especially when it comes in from the sea into the aquarium - the ocean floor is almost barren. However, her stage is much brighter than it looks, compared to the official shot where it is dark and gloomy. I was superbly impressed by the fish, especially the humongous ones. And I think I saw a squid, or maybe it was a jellyfish. Nevertheless, there were a lot of them. The sea texture under the glass floor however was terrible, rather like VF3tb - Shun's water.
Gameplay
My original plan was to use Pai to bask my way through all 14 levels, but I have no talent for her, really. Her P,P,K,K and f+K,K were pretty useful in connecting after my d/f+P, P, f+P. I didn't manage to use her two stances effectively, although I planned to. And why does P,P,P,b+K only stun!? I also used the El Cheapo trick, of going d+K -> d+K -> D+K,K from the vf00x.lzh movies. Effective against everyone.
Playing against Pai wasn't so easy. She was bitchy with her u/f+K,K - you know how it has such a high priority and such. She was quick to transition for her two stances, and pulling off K,P,K ever so often. There was also the d+K,K that she abused. It was quite irritating playing against here, Irritant Level 2 out of 5.
Character Design and Mannerism
It was with her that I realised the characters don't blink. Her eyes are too pale... and I believe her hats don't fall anymore. Her opening taunt where she goes 'Haaaa' is a rather weak attempt in making her seem cute. But that doesn't stop her from being an impressive character. I especially like her' Anata te zenzen something naiwaiyo' taunt - it could very well be the next 'Anata niwa kufuu ga tarinai wa' - both are very infectious/melodious to the ear.

Kage-Maru and the Garden

Stage Design
This stage is probably the horriblest of all IMO. Unlike the official pics, the trees have RED DOTS for leaves! Argh! I still think VF2 trees were the best, but I digress. The leaves on the stage all have a brown outline to them, and the leaves looked worse than VF3 Kage's leaves. In comparison, however, the sludgy water looked quite inviting.
Gameplay
I used Kage as well. I didn't know how to do Jumonji, so I stuck with the basics. The old moves are still there, and he has a nice cartwheel move, f+K+G I think. I also abused the TFT and Izuna Drop. I couldn't pull of Kageyaiba.
The CPU Kage was 4/5 for Irritancy. He kept shuffling between stances and he was rolling around the floor [literally] for his many attacks. He kept abusing it, and I lost one Pai to him. He is pretty speedy, and he kept using that sommersaulting leap into the air... I think it was U/F, K+G in VF2 but I'm not sure about later versions.
Character Design and Mannerism
All I remember is the scar... and I don't think his mask drops. What has happened to the novelty of dropping accesories? And his entry is rather flashy.

Jeffry McWild and the Island

Stage Design
The scene is as bland as the colour of the sand. The lens flare effect is new [hexagons], but I wasn't too impressed as a whole. The seaplane was horrible jaggy, and the reflections in the water were worse than Soul Calibur ARCADE. The crumbling geometry of the sand was still and interesting factor. But I didn't notice sand particles flying around.
Gameplay
Didn't use that oaf. Has a level of 6/5 for irritancy, because I wasted a good amount of money losing to him. He abuses [get the trend?] the Frontal Backbreaker, as well as b,d/f+P,P. I think the last P can be dealyed. And he has a ridiculous amount of hand blows - he performed d/f+P,P,d/f+P one time too many. And he used a fair bit of K,K,P.
Character Design and Mannerism
What have they done to his hair!? If you look closeup, his head is nothing but a dotted texture!!!! Argh! The sin! This is VF4, not a cheapo title! But his beginning taunt more than makes up for everything. He'll go 'What are you doing!' to the cameraman [behind the camera that's filming the fight] and when he slams the camera sideways to the ground, he goes 'Get a life.' And his RO action is humorous. He looks like he's going to explode... and he starts for the stage, as if to continue fighting. But still it isn't as good as his continual bowing losing taunt of previous versions IMO.

Vanessa Lewis and the Harbour

Stage Design
The background textures were despicable, and textures on the boats were mortifying. The water was the redeeming factor, but somehow I think the standard could have been improved.
Gameplay
I didn't experiment with Vanessa - I didn't want to waste precious money. Her blows are very strong, but similarly she is light and is very much combo fodder. She hasn't learnt how to continue attacks from her neutral holds yet, so I escaped every one with a G. She has some weird air kick that resembles one of Leona KOF's kicks, but I'm not sure.
Character Design and Mannerism
Her hair. Her body. Her flair. There she goes. There she goes again.

Lau Chan and the Great Wall of China

Stage Design
This was definitely a rushed piece. The sky is as pixellated as a DOA2 moving sky, and the textures on the Great Wall and surrounding hills were terrifying. Eeks! VF3's GW was so much better. But I appreciated the puddles. There aren't many games with puddles, nor are there any well implemented ones like VF4's.
Gameplay
In desperation due to my beginning losses to Jeffry, I decided to use my all time El Cheapo - Lau. Although my talent lies with Sarah - I refused to use her then. In VF3, I usually play against CPU with d/f+K,P,f+P and MC u/f+K, Auto UpKn, P,P,P,K / d+K. Imagine my horror when I couldn't pull off the former [did they change the command?] and my surprise when punch-kick combos are confirmed hits after his Cartwheel Kick, sans UpKn. His P,P,P,b+K stuns only, but that doesn't matter. I whupped my way through using d/f,d/f+P,P,P,K variations, but was finally beaten at Jeffry again. Argh!
Playing against him was totally different. At Level 7, his potential was somewhat maximised. He pulled off every conceivable punch and kick and goodness knows what. He pulled off my coveted d/f+K,P,f+P, and when I first reached here with Sarah, I lost. But I continued and fought up to Sarah and then I KOed. Could have continued, but I was out of dough.
Character Design and Mannerism
He looks evil, seedy, and old. His voice is much better now, although they were all voiced by the same person for VF2- VF4. He has a certain raspiness to his tones.

Jacky Bryant and the City

Stage Design
I must say here that the lighting is mad. The city is amazing, but jagged from far views. The helicopter at the start of the fight is an amazing addition. I do believe that his stage is one of the better ones in VF4.
Gameplay
Using him was rather different. All his spinning backfist/beat knuckle combos have changed in look, so I was rather surprised. I messed about with his SS, but didn't do much with it. And I fooled with d/f+K,K sometimes. And I think his neutral P+G has changed to a stomach blow and not the Northern Light Bomb any more... or maybe I pressed the buttons wrongly. I didn't get to use him for long. I was whupped at Vanessa.
From here on, only my Sarah has played against the opponents. Hence descriptions will be more specific. My basic Sarah strategy is to weave the following moves:

1. P,P,P,K
2. P,P,P,b+K
3. f+K -> combo
4. d+P+K,K -> u/b+K or d+K,K
5. some throws, occasionally the FAT
6. Dragon Smash Cannon followups
7. Flamingo K,K,K and u / d+P+K

Combining them, I destroyed Jacky quickly, He wasn't so impressive. It's just like VF2 all over again. The CPU gets cheap towards level 5 or 6, then as it tries to be more cheapo, it ends up doing nothing [too many calculations to process]. But this is less distinct than 2, of course.
Character Design and Mannerism
Seems pretty okay, his hair looks very much improved. But I think his 'handcuffed lightning' pose seems too Hwang Sung Kyung.

Aoi and the Shrine

Stage Design
My fave stage of all! I expected to be impressed and I was. The water looks good, and the reflections are wonderful, but I think the clarity can be improved on. The pink cherry blossom trees look good, and the only sin would be the low textures in the background, especially the pagoda. This is evident in the zooming in from the pagoda to the stage - horrendous.
Gameplay
I used Aoi as well. I didn't figure out her YY stance nor her new moves. I basically fought with my VF3 skills and experimented with a few moves. b+K+G is useful, and as for D,f+P -> b+P+G, I didn't pull it off. Fighting against her was also rather easy, but she did a few reversals here and there. Sarah's b+K+G [new animation!] was useful in distancing her. But other than that Aoi wasn't lethal, not like in VF3 when she was at a high level with all her elbows.
Character Design and Mannerism
Ravishing, apart from the eyes. And I don't really like the way her hair at the back of her head animates when she kneels. But her losing pose 'Konna ko to diwa blah blah' was more dramatic than VF3's, nice addition.

Shun and the Cave Stage

Stage Design
Can't say much, but I liked the carvings in the caves. I didn't pay much heed to the background here, it was quite bland as a whole.
Gameplay
Shun wasn't too much of a threat. He pulled off p+GH and b+P+G like gunfire and toyed with d/b+P one time too many. Stupid looking move that interrupts too well. He also did his old VF3 f+K+E [dunno the command] and he showed off his new stance, where he holds his leg [in addition to sit, sleep, hanstand] and pulled off some fancy stuff - my memory fails me.
Character Design and Mannerism
His beard is wonderfully animated, and his face is beautifull textured with liver spots. Now if only they would improve the backgrounds. Maybe PS2's anti-aliasing would help.

Wolf and the Arena

Stage Design
I only watched out for the crowd. It was amazing, but I couldn't see any detail on their faces, only black figures jumping up and down. Still, the tile patternm is hard to spot.
Gameplay
No Wolf for me! He basically did some old attacks and there was once he connected two Short Shoulders [b,f+P+K]. I demolished him quickly with Sarah. It was quite weird seeing a Stage 11 at the bottom of the screen.
Character Design and Mannerism
He is so ugly!

Sarah Bryant and the Colosseum

Stage Design
The sombre ambience reminded me of VF2, and even the statues seem to be crying in anguish. Lightning destroyed a building once, but it was over before I paid much attention to it.
Gameplay
The battle boiled down to 'who can use the Flamingo better'. The Knee was useless against her, and all the P,P,P,K moves came to zilch. I even fell for one FAT... but in the end, the CPU Sarah won 2 - 1 with only about a 20 point damage lead. So close, yet so far.
Character Design and Mannerism
Thank goodness for the change of voice! It's more sultry and deep now. I liked all her poses, except for the Yahoo one which I found strange as the sweep sound effect sounded as she spun around. And she has eyebags.

Well that's it! I guess I must play more to discover more, but until then I'll keep hoping to pass Sarah and get to Akira and Dural. And saving as well. The trip cost me big money.



<font color=black>Yowai...yowai sugimasu wa!</font color=black>

 

But then again, in Singapore, all you have to do is travel at max an hour from any point before you meet the
sea... but I digress.

Just like Rhode Island! =) But no VF4 here... :-[

Thanks for the report on graphics for the guys like me who haven't bothered to download many movies... and the comments on fighting the CPU were good too.

--
"VF is the resonance AND the wonder." GodEater

 

daaaam son!, you sure that was vf4 you played?
might as well save it and say "vf4 gfx sucks ass". thas some hardcore nitpicking you did. /versus/images/icons/smile.gifx10
i now declare you, Lord Nitpickus jadedko

 

Vicks
After exam very free ah~ /versus/images/icons/laugh.gif

<font color=red>~~~ 'Flock off feather brain, or u can stick around and find out the hard way!/versus/images/icons/mad.gif~~~'

 

Holy crap...I really hope this wasn ot a final version...maybe a really fucked up beta...please don't tell me DOA3 will be the savior of 3d fighting...

"Victory can be anticipated, but not assured" Sun-Tzu

 

Maybe you're playing on low-res? Old VS city machines don't have multi-res monitors capable of displaying VGA. They have dual res monitors and run at low res EGA or mid res CGA (which N2 doesn't output - N2 outputs EGA or VGA). It really sounds like you're playing on low res.

--
"A chem bla deshembla blurr fuh bli fouzh"

 

Holy crap...I really hope this wasn ot a final version...maybe a really fucked up beta...please don't tell me DOA3 will be the savior of 3d fighting...

Relax. After all, this post is just one person's interpretation of VF4. Your opinion may be much different than Vicks Biru's once you see and play VF4 for yourself.




-<font color=white>Ghost</font color=white><font color=orange>DOG</font color=orange>

 

I feel your review is very harsh with regards to the graphics. Tell me, what was your comparison? Your standards are very high in my opinion. You did play VerB right?

Adio.

 

Maybe I was bit harsh. But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy playing it. It was Version B [intro proves everything], and it was on those old Versus City machines. But I don't see why VF4 should looks so jaggy in relation to previous VFs. But anyway, just for the heck of it, the DOA2 machine standing next to the VF4 machines was in major need of repair - and the res on the screen was horrendous. And for T4, the graphics are much jaggier than VF4's. Well, just have to play more - it's an acquired taste.

Oh, Singapore VFers... anyone knows of any other locations? Besides Marina, Parklane, AMK blah... preferably somewhere in the west with a BIG SCREEN at high res. And keep away from one of the machines at Marina... I think my card spoilt one of the machines there. /versus/images/icons/wink.gif
<font color=black>Yowai...yowai sugimasu wa!</font color=black>
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Vicks Biru on 10/14/01 03:40 AM (server time).</FONT></P>

 

My goodness, your post was long! Interesting read, thanks--I actually shared many of your thoughts when I saw the test version. I'm a pretty critical guy too, but hopefully many of my graphical complaints lie in the monitor.